Portable hoist equipment has become a very popular field of useful equipment, especially when needed for use with a great deal of the heavy items and equipment available today, and, as I found out, where special devices must be available to serve multiple purposes, for example, for moving heavy equipment and also being needed for handling big game.
Big game hunting, such as deer hunting, has a very definite need for hoist devices to lift or hold a large deer in a convenient arrangement while the hunter skins the animal and cleans the carcass for more convenient transport.
As I show with the hoist device I have developed, I soon came to realize that a practical form of hoist device could be useful for many purposes.
I have designed my hoist system basically as a powerful hoist system which can be easily and quickly disassembled of all its components for convenient storage, and so that a hoist may be very easily assembled from those numerous components with the use of very few nuts and bolts. The important characteristic of providing structural security during use is with the cooperation of pin members positioned thru chosen structural openings.
The major components are rectangular tubular components which are made to operate telescopically by the action of motor-driven cable and pulley connections.
The tubular components are preferably formed of ¼ inch thick steel members which are 2 to 3 inches wide and 7 to 10 feet long.
The uppermost component on the extension boom is formed with a round base member which is rotatable within the next lower member to provide complete horizontal rotatable adjustment for the hoisting operation.
The initial choice of alignment for the hoist device is chosen by the position of the vehicle, not by subsequent alignment of the hoist unit.
The winch member is a typical winch and includes the usual ratchet and brake component for full control of the winch.
I have designed the winch and cable system for operation of extension movement of the boom members, angular positioning of the boom, and, at the finish of a task, movement of the boom to the proper position for storage.
As I show, the angular orientation and telescopic extension of the boom members can be determined and is controllable by the manner in which the cable is attached and made to operate the various components.
I have made sure that the device is given significant mechanical advantage by the choice and placement of the system of pulleys.
Then, I have most importantly discovered, that the rotational member of the device can be easily and safely held in a good operational position by the frictional action of the components and the weight of the components without the need for any system of security, such as nuts and bolts.
The more I thought about a game hoist, the more I had become aware that a portable hoist should be able to serve many purposes.
To my knowledge, there has not been a hoist device similar to my system.
In accordance with the usual practice, I had conducted a patent search, as a result of which I found the following patents which were considered to be the closest to my invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,792 to Seabloom et al describes a detachable hoist mounted on the bed of a truck constructed from tubular members of square cross section. The hoist is mounted on a carriage which includes rollers so that it may move along tracks on the vehicle bed. To facilitate raising the boom, a strut is used to assist tension. After the boom is raised beyond a chosen angle, a guy wire is attached and the strut is removed. To handle loads at a greater distance, a second winch is added and placed in transverse operation. A second guy line is used to help raise the boom to retain the boom at the required angle. The boom does not appear to be horizontally pivotal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,991 to Myers, Jr., describes a hoist apparatus mounted on a vehicle. Two embodiments of the hoist apparatus are shown, one embodiment is connected to the rear end of the vehicle and the second is connected to the foot reception area at a midpoint of the vehicle. A hand-operable winch is controlling a cable extending from winch around a pulley at the end of the boom to a hook member for lifting game. Boom is lockable in orientation by nut and bolt means securing members of support plate. Separate means are shown for safely locking the hook when the apparatus is not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,483 to Frommer describes a field hoist which is mountable on a truck and comprises a vertical post with a hand-driven winch at the end thereof. An angled upright member is slidably positioned thereon. Both vertical component and angled member are telescopically extendible. The boom is rotatably positionable on the post to any chosen orientation and lockable at any extension by nut and bolt means thru cooperable holes. Various accessories may be positioned at the end of the boom, including a chair member.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,727 to Hood describes a hoist which is attached to the bed of a truck which includes a vertical mast which is rotatable about its axis and includes a telescopic boom swivelably connected to the lower end. A motor-driven winch is attached near the lower end of said boom and said boom includes holes which may be aligned to receive pins for locking securely. The hoist is designed to be operable from a position within the bed of a truck where it is always to be available.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,869,265 to Smith et al describes a lift device which is attachable to the cargo rack of an ATV. The device includes a vertical frame member attached to the vehicle having a horizontally extending base support member pivotally attached to the bottom of the vertical frame member. A motor-driven winch is mounted on the vertical frame member to operate a cable connected to the base support member to swing the base support swivelably with game loaded thereon in position to become unloaded upon a cargo rack on the ATV. U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,246 to Sherrod describes a lift device which is retractably and rotatably mounted on an ATV and includes a horizontal base plate rotatably attached to ATV with a vertical member attached thereto and an extension plate pivotally attached thereto. A winch is positioned on the vertical member and operates a cable attached thereto which passes over a pulley at the end of an upper elongated boom component.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,374,388 to Holt describes a hoist apparatus which is attachable to a tow hitch of a truck, primarily for butchering large game. The device includes a folding tubular boom made of two sections which are locked in place at a swivel bracket and have a hand-driven winch at the midpoint thereof and have an extendible angular member forming the upper section. Then the upper section has a spreader bar at the end of the boom for supporting a deer and a stabilizer fits receivably into a portion of the spreader bar and a chain depends from each end of the spreader.
U.S. Provisional Application 2004/0026675 to Green et al describes a game hoist attachable to a receiver hitch on a vehicle which includes a telescopic boom rotatably attachable thereto. Telescopic action is provided by a ratchet member operable by a crank. A winch near the receiver hitch is operable by a hand crank.
U.S. Provisional Application 2004/0214515 describes a game hoist which is mountable on a truck by means of a horizontal member which supports a vertical member arranged to rotate around the vertical shaft, and which supports a motor-driven winch directing a cable for placement of a hook component along the shaft.